Michalek played two games since returning from a month-long absence due to a knee he originally injured in warm-ups prior to a game Feb. 13 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. According to the Sun, Michalek is considered day to day with his latest knee issues.

Cory Schneider started the Canucks' previous three games -- all losses -- and has just two wins in his last eight starts. The Canucks have lost four straight and have been overtaken by the Minnesota Wild for first place in the Northwest Division.

Luongo hasn't played since March 3, when he allowed three goals on 24 shots in a 4-2 loss to the Calgary Flames. For the season, Luongo is 5-2-3 with a 2.19 goals-against average and .912 save percentage.

The mindset of the Tampa Bay Lightning at the NHL Trade Deadline is a topic now being addressed with more regularity.

Inconceivably, the Lightning sit near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings -- eight points adrift in both the Southeast Division and the Eastern Conference -- thanks, in large part, to a 4-13-1 streak that has all but erased memories of their rather torrid start to the season.

Yet, general manager Steve Yzerman still believes his club has the goods to develop into a Stanley Cup Playoffs-caliber team.

As the 2013 Trade Deadline approaches, Ottawa general manager Bryan Murray finds himself in an interesting position: Does he look to replace the injured players? Or does he wait it out with the roster he has and hope Spezza and Anderson return -- Karlsson is out for the season -- prior to the Stanley Cup Playoffs?

"You make judgments accordingly," Murray told the Ottawa Sun. "I have to see if [Spezza] is going to come back in a time frame that will help us. I have to see if Latendresse and Lundin are going to be ready to play.

"If our numbers are getting close to our regular lineup [in the near future], then you probably have more ambition, if you're in the playoff hunt, to say, 'Let's make sure we make it and let's pay the price to do it.'"

The Philadelphia Flyers opted to stay off the ice Sunday morning, ahead of their game Sunday night against the visiting Buffalo Sabres (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN2), one day after their 3-0 loss to the Boston Bruins, their third straight defeat.

After the game Saturday, coach Peter Laviolette convened a team meeting, followed by the players having a private meeting.

The defeat dropped the Flyers to 11th in the Eastern Conference standings, and after entering the week with two straight wins, they were swept in games against the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Bruins, two of which they held leads in only to see them given away.

The Calgary Flames announced Saturday they have activated center Mikael Backlund from injured reserve. The 23-year-old has been out of the Flames lineup since Feb. 7, when he suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain during the team's 4-3 overtime win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Prior to his injury, Backlund had three goals and four points in eight games this season.

In order to open a roster spot for Backlund, the Flames reassigned rookie Sven Baertschi to the Abbottsford Heat of the American Hockey League.

New Jersey Devils captain Bryce Salvador, one of five players to appear in each of the team's 82 games last season, did not make the trip to Raleigh, N.C., and will miss the Devils' game Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes with an upper-body injury. Salvador, 37 was named captain in January and has one assist in 24 games this season.

He isn't the only Devils defenseman not to make the trip south. Henrik Tallinder has not played since Tuesday against Tampa Bay and remains out with a lower-body injury. The team's official Twitter feed confirmed Salvador's absence and noted that 20-year-old Adam Larsson would take his place in the lineup.

Here is the Devils projected lineup for the game against the Hurricanes, based on reports from the morning skate:

He's only 17 but he can see the ice so well and he moves the puck and goes to the open ice all the time, so I just think he's a player that is ready to play in the NHL. I'm really looking forward to coaching someone like this.

— U.S. National Junior Team coach Ron Wilson on Auston Matthews, the projected No. 1 pick of the 2016 NHL Draft